The Parrillo Family

Just like we've done in years past, we had some family photos taken this fall.  Here's the ones from last year.   Here's the ones from 2015 .  This year, we had a new house and a new neighborhood.  And kids that are growing like weeds.  Nat found someone who could help us capture this moment in time.  I'm so glad we did. Eloise is 7. Sadie is 5. Frank just turned 3. And they're just awesome human beings.  Hope you get a kick out of these photos as much as Nat and I both do!

Wouldn't want to roll with anybody else.  These four are pretty amazing. We had some photos taken of our family earlier this fall and some of them turned out pretty cute! The last time we took family photos was last summer in New York . Even little Lizzie made it in one!  Who knows....maybe you'll be seeing these on the Christmas card this year??

As I said last year in my 2013 Christmas Eve @ Noonie/Papa's House post:  "Christmas Eve at Noonie and Papa's is epic!" That's how my brain is programmed to perceive the celebration down in Frankfort at my folks' house and that's how I *hope* my kids are going to remember the nights there, too.  Ellie has now been there for five of them.  Five of them!  Sadie has been for three.  But Topper?  This was his first time. The festivities revolve around the cousins and as you can see in some of the photos below, there are LOTS of them and they LOVE being together.  It really is a magical thing.  The girls (and Topper) got to meet Santa (again) and sit on his lap.  They also got to (gasp!) drink Sprite.  Yes...Sprite.  (It is the little things that mean so much, right??) Papa and Noonie spoiled them all rotten and everyone got into their pajamas at Noonie/Papa's house before the long car rides back to Elmhurst. I couldn't i...

As I mentioned in the post that showed the photos of our trip to Disneyland , we sandwiched the Disney trip inside of a larger family vacation to Carlsbad California with the full Moran Family. We spent a week in a lovely house right on the Carlsbad lagoon (I think that's what they called it!).  This was all pool, beach, and family time.  It was perfect. Along with their Aunts and Uncles, we took the girls to the beach.  Sadie loved the ocean right away.  Eloise?  In typical fashion, she took a bit to warm up to it.  But, then she got into it.  Her Uncle Bill, Uncle Peter and Grandad sure didn't hurt when they kept dragging her back in! The four of us even snuck away for another excursion:  this time to the San Diego Zoo where we saw a creature named Eloise! On the way back from the Zoo, we made two stops: first the Hotel Del Coronado for some lunch.  Then after?  Up to La Jolla for Nat and I to have a nice little...

We had a great party the weekend before Christmas to celebrate Ellie's 4th Birthday party.  Here's the video of the day. If you are reading this in your email and can NOT see this video below, click here to watch the video on the site .

Can you believe it?  Eloise turned four this past month.  To celebrate, we did some of our family traditions and some new activities.  It wouldn't be a family birthday without a cupcake breakfast. After that, Nat hosted a "tea party" at our house for some of Ellie's friends.  If you've been around Ellie when there is party planning going on, you know she ADORES being a hostess.  So, this was right in her wheelhouse. Later in the afternoon, we went out for real "tea" with a party at American Girl with her cousin and sister Sadie.  They even brought their dolls! We ended the night with pizza and cake at Uno's downtown with Noonie and Grammy and Granddad joining us. The party didn't stop on her actual birthday.  We hosted some family for a party a few days later. Eloise is such a lucky girl to have her family join her for these celebrations.  With her birthday falling so close to Christmas, we know we're the lucky ones to h...

We've come a LONG way since that very first Christmas with our one-week-old Eloise .  After a great night at Noonie and Papa's on Christmas Eve, we woke up early as Eloise came into our room to tell us that Santa had visited.  After opening all our presents (well...to be honest, Sadie wasn't all that interested in opening stuff, so some of her presents just stayed wrapped under the tree!) and eating our traditional breakfast of Kirschbaum's coffee cake, we packed up the family truckster and headed out to Naperville for Christmas morning round two at the Moran's. The girls couldn't have had more fun opening presents with their aunts/uncles and Grammy and Granddad.  We all even had matching shirts thanks to Grammy! As both Ellie and Sadie get older, each Christmas season gets better and better.  While I'm pretty sad to say goodbye to Christmas for a while, I can't wait until next year to see Ellie and Sadie's eye's light up when the season s...

See that expression on Ellie's face?  That's the look of finally figuring out that she was going to Disneyland as she pulls up to the gates on the People Mover.  We told Ellie that we were going to California to visit her Uncle Charlie , but we didn't tell her that we were going to see Mickey as part of the trip. After arriving, we spent all day at the parks and made it all the way to the end of the night where both girls fell asleep in their stroller. Both Sadie and Ellie had a great time.  Ellie got a REAL treat when one of her favorite princesses - Merida - tried extra hard to get Ellie out of her bashful shell.  She came out of her character corral, spent some time trying to convince Ellie to smile and even sat next to her in the stroller.  Check out the photo below. For her part, Sadie fell in love with Sully from Monsters Inc. After Disney, we spent the rest of the weekend with the Morans that included a stop in Venice to see the body builders an...